This is an archive of civic prayers offered by an appointed chaplain or designated guest chaplain for opening a legislative session of a governmental body. Initiating such meetings with a prayer may have started with the "Elizabethan Parliaments" presided over by Queen Elizabeth Ⅰ of England beginning in 1559. By the 18th century, the tradition had spread to Freemasons as a ceremonial custom for opening their Lodge meetings. Famously, Rev. Jacob Duché, Rector of Christ Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, opened the First Continental Congress with a prayer, and so the tradition became woven into the fabric of the founding of the United States. While the practice was early dominated by Christian clergy, Jewish leaders began asserting their requests for equal representation in American civic life around 1830. While existing research is not yet comprehensive, Jewish participation in this tradition appears to first arise in the state legislatures. Often left unrecorded in legislative records, around 1850, these prayers started getting more popular coverage in historic newspapers. In 1860, Morris Raphall, offered the first prayer of a rabbinic guest chaplain in the US House of Representatives, and in 1870, Isaac Mayer Wise offered the first prayer of a rabbinic guest chaplain before the US Senate. The civic custom couples easily with rabbinic Judaism's long-standing practice of offering public prayers for the welfare of sovereign leaders. ---Aharon Varady Filter resources by Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
Resources filtered by COLLABORATOR: “the Congressional Record of the United States of America” (clear filter)The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 2 February 1904, the first prayer of a rabbinic guest chaplain recorded in the Congressional Record Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 16 January 1905. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 16 February 1905. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 1 July 1912. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the fourth month of the first session of the 63rd US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 51 part 10 (10 June 1914), page 10175. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the third session of the 63rd US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 52 part 2 (13 January 1915), page 1514. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 17 January 1917. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 19 January 1917. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 13 December 1917. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the third month of the second session of the 65th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 56 part 3 (25 February 1918), page 2628. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the ninth month of the second session of the 65th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 56 part 10 (30 August 1918), page 9678. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the first month of the third session of the 65th US Senate, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 57 part 1 (12 December 1918), pp. 336-337. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 22 February 1925, an elegy for Rep. Julius Kahn (1861-1924). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the first month of the first session of the 69th US Senate, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 67 part 1 (14 December 1925), page 762. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the seventh month of the first session of the 69th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 67 part 10 (7 June 1926), page 10819. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the sixth month of the first session of the 70th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 68 part 7 (30 April 1928), page 7438. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the first session of the 71st US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 71 part 2 (29 May 1926), page 2173. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 7 January 1930. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the first session of the 72nd US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 74 part 3 (16 January 1931), page 2370. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the sixth month of the first session of the 72nd US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 75 part 10 (20 May 1932), pp. 10812-10813. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): |
![the Open Siddur Project [logo]](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Open-Siddur-Project-Logo-2016.svg){kind=logo}
